Office Depot 499 99 Merchandise Gift at Amazon
| Most helpful customer reviews 137 of 140 people found the following review helpful. I think a lot of people buy a shredder, not knowing that it does need some maintenance to keep it in top shape. Besides not overloading your shredder’s capabilities or shredding material that you shouldn’t, the next best thing you can do to protect your investment is to regularly lubricate the cutters. This reduces wear, noise, and can prevent the teeth from breaking. Be sure to read the instructions for your particular shredder, however, about the type of oil to use and the frequency. You may be tempted to use other types of oil you already have around your house or WD-40 or something, but many of those things are flammable and will only serve to damage your shredder or worse. As another reviewer said, be careful when cutting the tip on the bottle because if you make it too big, the oil will be harder to control. 147 of 151 people found the following review helpful. Remember that vegetable oils go rancid quickly; they’re meant for eating and not industrial lubrication on a regular basis. The use vegetable oil trick is actually intended for people who use their shredders OFTEN, not OCCASIONALLY. I have a giant bottle of canola oil at the office for the big shredder, I use the branded oil at home. The amount of shredding most offices do is enough to warrant using vegetable oil since more than likely by the end of of a typical maintenance cycle, the oil is long gone from the blades and feeding mechanism. Do not use olive oil, corn oil, cottonseed, peanut, palm, or ANY vegetable oil with an odor. Unless you want your shredder smelling like food, stay away from any vegetable oil with a distinct odor. Canola oil is the best substitute for branded oil. Also look for lower grade canola cooking oil, the ones you often find in thrift stores or 99 cent stores. It should look more “watery” than viscous. If you think Fellowes is taking you for a ride in selling shredder oil, think again. It’s like someone mixing food coloring and water to make “ink” for their printer. Sure the price is way more than it should be, but that also doesn’t make the home alternative absolutely correct all the time. Use the Fellowes oil if you shred papers ocasionally and pretty much find yourself oiling once in two weeks. One 12 ounce bottle should last you QUITE a long time. If you’re in a heavy office or shredding daily, then go for the canola oil alternative. The last thing you want is to have sticky, smelly blades that have rancid vegetable oils on them. Fellowes oil has no odor and is quite “watery”. If I could buy this stuff cheap in the gallons, I would for all my shredders. Vegetable oils have the caveats I mentioned above, but they DO work if you’re in a pinch or trying to save some money. As a side note, always use shredder bags when possible. They save you from dealing with the “dust” that shredders create. And yes, you can use generic 4-11 gallon trash bags instead of “shredder” bags! That’s ok. 45 of 45 people found the following review helpful. |
Great Protection for Your Shredder Investment
Sometimes it’s not worth being stingy; use the proper oil